Silo-scaffolding.



J. WEASLER.

SILO SCAFFOLDING.

APPLlCATlON FILED 0CT.19.1916

Patented July 3, 1917.

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2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

J. WEASLER. SILO SCAFFOLDNG.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 19. 1916.

Patented July 3, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 281 32&

JOSEPH WEASLEB OF CAMPBELLSPORT, WISCONSIN.

SILO-SCAFFOLDING.

mames Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedJuly 3, 11917..

Application filed October 19, 1916. Serial No. 1263624.

To all whom it may camera:

Be it known that I, J osnrrr WEAsLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Campbellsport, in the County of Fond du Lac and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Silo- Scafiolding; and I do declare the following to be a full clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skillcd in the art to which it appertains to make and use the' same.

This invention relates to improvements in scafi olding which is particularly designed for use in connection with the building of silos, tanls, smoke-stacks, and other similar structures.

Ordinarily in building silos and similar 4 buildings it is necessary to construct seaffolding around the outside of the building, this scaflolding being broken up when the building is completed. This requires a considerable amount of lumber especially if the building is very high, and when the latter is completed it is no longer of any use to the builder. My inventon is designed to lessen the expense of constructing such buildings by the use of an improved seaffolding which is disposed within the building and provided with means for raising the same as the walls are built up;

A secondary object of the invention is to provide means for centrally positioning the scafi'olding within the silo or other building so as to render it more stable and rigid.

Still another object is to provide means for increasing the size of the scafi'olding so that it may be used in the Construction of buildings of various sizes.

With these and many other objects in View, the invention resides in the novel features of Construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will bethereinafter more particularly described and claimed and shown in the drawings wheren Figure 1 is a central vertical section of my inproved silo scafi old;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the lne 2--2 of Fig. l and,

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the `drawings the scaffoldingiis shown' used in the Construction of a silo, and' in the specification this use of the invention will be specifically described. It s to be noted however, that the devce with shght modfications may be used in constructing various types of cement buildings or those formed of other materials.

The invention comprises broadly a central vertical standard or shaft upon which is disposed a vertically movable platform, and means for centering the platform and holdmg lt rigid within the building. The standard 1 is preferably formed from pipe of suitable diameter to the lower end of which is attached a base 2, the latter being sunk in the ground which is to be occupied by the silo, the upper end of the standard being provided' with eyes 3 with which guy ropes or cables l are attached, said guy ropes being suitably' held to the ground or other object to 'maintain the standard in vertical position. The' upper end of the standard l also carries a pair of pulleys 5 around which a lifting cable 6 is trained, the ends of the cable being attached 1:0 the platform 7.

The platform of the scafolding comprises a plurality of radially extending arms 8 which 'are secured at their inner ends in suitable sockets 9 formed on the upper end of a sleeve 10, and planks disposed on said arms. The lower end of the sleeve 10 also has a plurality of sockets 12 to receive the inner ends of brace bars 13, the outer ends of the latter being attached by means of angle irons to the arms 8 adjacent their outer ends. In the present instance six arms 8 are used and the same number of braces 13 are provided for supporting the same. The sleeve 10 is of such diameter that it will readily slide on the standard l and carry with it the platform 7 and is adapted to act as a support for centering and supporting bases as will be hereinafter described.

'The 'platform is raised as hereinbefore nentioned by means of the cable 6, one end of which is secured to the platform after passing over one'of the pulleys 5 and the other end is attached to a winding drum 14, the intermediate portion being disposed around the wheel of a pulley 15 attached to one of the arms 8. The winding mechanism consists of the drum 14 from the outer ends of which stub shafts 16 eXtend and are rotatably mounted in bearings formed at the apices of inverted V-shaped supporting brackets 17, the ends of the arms of these brackets being secured to certain of the arms S. Crank handles 18 are fixed to each of the stub shafts to rotate said drum to wind the cable thereoni This forms a very simple means for raising and lowering the platform, the drum 14 being held against movement in one direction by means of a suitable pawl and ratchet mechanism 19. In order to provide a safety device which will prevent the dropping of the platform in case of breakage of the cable 6, I form a plurality of vertically spaced apertures 20 in the standard l and arrange a suitable spring pressed detent 21 for engagement therewith. This detent is carried by the upper end of the sleeve 10 which is extended as shown at 22 and provided with an aperture through which the detent is disposed. The end of this detent is so formed that it will readily allow the platform to be raised but will prevent its being lowered until it is manually released from the opening 20 in which it is disposed.

The platform 7 is centered and held rigidly with the building by means of a plurality of pivoted brace bars 23, one being carried by each of the arms 8 beneath the same. The bars 23 are somewhat longer than the arms.8 and are pivoted thereto by means of the links 24 and the lower ends of the links being pivoted to the bars nearer the outer ends than the inner as shown in Fig. 1. Each of the bars carries on its outer end a vertical shoe 25, said shoe being hingedly connected to said bars so that their full bearing surface will engage the wall of the silo irrespective of the position of the bars 23. In order that the deviee may be used in constructing buildings of various sizes, the upper ends of the links 24 are pivotally connected to supplemental arms 26, one of which is slidably disposed on the outer end of each arm 8 and designed to project beyond the end of the latter. These Supplemental arms 26 are held in sliding relation with the other arms by means of the U- shaped strap 27.

Since the brace bars 23 are pivoted nearer one end than the other the inner ends which are heavier will tend to drop, thereby forcing the shoes 25 outwardly into engagement with the wall of the silo. The inner ends of the arms 23 will frictionally engage the sleeve 10 in order to hold the parts rigidly in engagement with the building, andif necessary a suitable tool may be used to force the inner ends of the bars downwardly into more binding engagement with the sleeve 10. As the building continues and the wall of the silo is raised higher the platform 7 is also raised by rotation of the crank handle of the winding drum, and when moved upwarcl a sufiicient distance the spring pressed detent 21 will engage the adjaeent opening 20 in the standard l. This upward movement of the platform causes the brace bars 23 to rock around their pivots, thus loosenng the shoes 25 from their engagement with the wall of the silo. This method of pivoting the brace bars to the arms 8 prevents the inner ends of said bars and the shoes binding between the sleeve 10 and the wall of the silo respectively when the platform is elevated. The lowering of the platform will have the reverse effeet on these brace bars, in other words, causing the shoes to more tightly bind against the silo wall, thus forming an emergency supporting check for the platform and neeessitating the raising of the inner ends of the bars. After the wall of the building has been completed the sca'li'olding may be readily dismantled and removed therefrom and when reassembled may be used for the Construction of a` new building. Thus it will be seen that this seaffolding can be used an indefinite number of times, and the only cost other than the initial cost being that of assembling and dis assembling the parts.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a scaffolding of the class described, a vertically movable platform, means for raising and lowering said platform, and a plurality of braces pivoted to the platform and extending beyond the sdes of said platform and downwardly inclined and adapted to engage the wall of a building and form emergency supports for the platform.

2. In a scafi'olding of the class described, a vertically movable platform, means for raising and lowering said platform, and a plurality of brace bars pivoted to the platform adjacent their outer ends to cause their inner ends to be lower-ed and swing the outer ends beyond the edges of the platform and be engaged against the wall of a building with the inner ends of the bars engaged against a portion of said platform to center the platform and form emergency supports therefor.

3. In a scaffolding of the class described, a vertically movable platform, means for raising and lowering said platform and a plurality of links depending from the platform and spaced inwarclly from the edge thereof, said links being pivotally connected to the platform, radially extending brace bars pivoted adj acent their outer ends to the lower ends of the links, the inner ends of said bars thereby causing the outer ends to swing outwardly and engage the wall of the building, said bars being of greater length than the corresponding length of the platform from its center whereby they are inclined clownwarclly, with their inner ends engaged against a portion of the platform to maintain the outer ends engaged against the building and form an emergency support for the platform.

l. In a scaifolding of the class described, a vertically movable platform, means for raising and lowering said platform, a plurality of brace bars, a plurality of links, each being pivotally connected at one end to one of said brace bars, a supporting member on said platform for the inner ends of the brace bars, the other ends of the links being pivotally attached to the platform, and a vertical shoe hinged to each of said brace bars, said brace bars being adapted to Swing outwardly to cause said shoes to engage the Wall of a building.

5. In a scaffolding of the class described, a vertically movable platform comprising a plurality of supporting arms and extensble portions on the ends of said arms, means for raising and loWering said platform, a plurality of brace bars pivoted to said extensible portions and having one end thereof adapted to engage a portion of the scafl'old structure and the other end adapted to sWing beyond the ends of the said eX- tensible portions to engage the Wall of a silo and center the platform therein, said bars also servng as emergency supports for the platform.

6. In a scaffolding of the class described, a vertically movable platform comprising a plurality of supporting arms, and supplemental arms attached to said supporting arms and movable beyond the ends of the same, a link extending from each of said supplemental arms, and a brace bar pivoted to each of the links and having one end thereof adapted to engage a portion of the scafi'old structure and the other end adapted to eXtend beyond the ends of said Supplemental arms to engage the Wall of a building and hold said platform rigdly centered therein and servng also as emergency supports for the platform.

7. In a scaffolding of the class described, a central standard, a vertically movable platform on said standard comprising a copies of this patent may be obtaned for five cents each, by addressing the sleeve, a plurality of arms Secured to said sleeve and eXtended radially therefrom, and braces connected With said arms and said sleeve, and a plurality of brace bars pivoted to said arms, the inner ends of said brace bars engaging said sleeve, their outer ends being adaptecl to contact With the Wall of a silo.

8. In a scafiolding of the class described, a central standard, a vertically movable platform on said standard comprising a sleeve, a plurality of arms Secured to said sleeve and eXtended radially therefrom, and braces connected With said arms and said sleeve, a link depending from each of said arms, and a brace bar pivoted to the lower end of each of said links, the inner ends of said brace bars engaging said sleeve, and

their outer ends being adapted to engage the Wall of a silo.

9. In a scafolding of the class described, a central standard, a vertically movable platform on said standard comprising a sleeve, a plurality of arms secured to said sleeve and extended radially therefrom, and braces connected With said arms and said sleeve, a link depending from each of said arms, abrace bar pivotally connected to the lower end of each of said links, and a vertical shoe hinged to the outer end of each of said brace bars, said shoes being adapted to engage the Wall of a slo, and the inner ends of said brace bars engaging said sleeve.

In testimony whereo' I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

J OSEPH WEASLER. WVitnesses:

L. J. FELLENZ, CHARLES WARDEN.

"Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

